Just about a year ago, I reviewed Octave, Volume 6. It was the final volume and of it I said, “Octave is the story I have always wanted to read.”

I say this once again, this time about Sasamekikoto, Volume 9 (ささめきこと).

The series began as a comedy, a ramshackle combination of Yuri tropes, all played for laughs and a little bittersweet drama. Slowly, but surely, it became a real story, a story that hits right in the heart of what lesbian Yuri readers want to see. What we want to see is not always about “coming out,” it’s about “becoming whole.”

And here, in the final volume, Sumi and Ushio become whole. It was a remarkable, fantastic, magnificent ending. I did not expect an ending of this caliber – I never even hoped for it. I would have been content with a “happily ever after” where we see Ushio and Sumika walk off, without having yet faced their community, their friends and their family, and we all pretend it will be all right.

I didn’t get that ending at all. Instead, miraculously, I got an ending where Ushio and Sumi face their community, their friends and their family head on and tell them that they are lovers. Good heavens, really? And still – it was funny. It was still a comedy, less bittersweet than we ever could have imagined. This is the decade Yuri has changed, irrevocably. This is the decade where Yuri becomes “any manga, anime (or related media) that shows intense emotional connection, romantic love or physical desire between women.” Just like we wanted.

I am flabbergasted. I rejoice. I celebrate.

Congratulations Sumi and Ushio – we love you.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

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Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 10

I can already see that 2012’s #1 slot for Yuri Manga is going to be a tough race. Awesome. ^_^

What a great ending.

Here we are at Volume 8 of Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと). And we are just about as far from where we started as we can be. Instead of layering Yuri tropes and riffing on fan expectations, Volume 8 is a straightforward look at what happens when two people decide to be more honest with their feelings, with the strong subtext of “taking responsibility.”

We left Sumi on the cusp of running for Student Council President and facing a smear campaign about her sexuality. To counter this, she is set up on a date with Akemiya-kun as a beard, but when he shows up as Akemi-chan, the more important message becomes one of personal responsibility for one’s choices. This is brought front and center when Mayu punches out a classmate for her unkind words and Sumi, as Karate team captain has to bear the responsibility. Ultimately, to save the Karate team from being disbanded, Sumi pulls herself from the election…only to have Ushio step in to replace her. Ushio, determined to be as responsible a member of the Student Body as Sumi is, wins. The Karate team remains intact, and Ushio does not back down from her own new responsibilities.

Throughout this volume, Ushio’s brother is being pressured by their grandmother to take responsibility for his own future and for Ushio. After she falls and is injured, he bites the bullet and confronts Kinuta-san about his responsibility to his grandmother and Ushio. The scene where he asks Kinuta to marry him was, IMHO, one of the funniest, most realistic scenes we’ve had in the series (and the reactions of the people around them remind me strongly of a night in a restaurant in England during which everyone in the room was visibly listening in on a breakup at a table in the center of the room.)

And then there’s Sumika. Sumi has been under a tremendous amount of stress recently. She’s pulled herself from the election, but had attention focused on her personal life in a rather unnerving way. Then she had to deal with Mayu’s situation. But what pushes her to the point of breaking is Ushio saying that she’s leaving to go take care of her grandmother. Smear her, blame her, make her the brunt of what you will…the one thing Sumika cannot tolerate is the loss of Ushio.

And that brings us to the end of a very excellent volume of a manga that is not what we could have expected, but has become everything it could be.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 9

Where will Volume 9 lead us? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out!

Years ago, when Ranma 1/2 dominated the world of anime/manga – related fanfic, authors quickly discovered something critical about writing comedy. Writing farce was impossibly difficult, as it relied heavily on visual gags. And, if authors took the other road and went all serious with the characters, they instantly encountered roadblocks like sustainable characterization and the drama of emotions.

Everyone knows that tragedy is easy, comedy is hard. It is especially hard when the comedy morphs into a drama, and things that were funny when it was a comedy now have to be integrated into a serious plotline. Someone switching genders as a comedy might be a hoot and a half…as a serious character point…do you go all maudlin and self-retrospective with them? Or do you deal with everyone else’s reactions? Or do you delve into the emotional life of not knowing who or what you are?

All of which brings us to Sasamekikoto, Volume 7, (ささめきこと). As I mentioned in my review of Strawberry Panic!, there comes a time when, as a writer, you have to just write, dammit. Comedy, potboiler episodic standardized whatever all have to be tossed out so you can make a strong story which characters that are real…or the readers will simply stop caring. (In reality, some will stop caring when you try to make your characters real, too, because they *liked* the two-dimensionality of the characters, but if you’re a writer, those people are an acceptable loss when weighed against your sanity and pride.)

Unexpectedly, Volume 7 begins with a look at Ushio’s brother and his lack of a life – and the choices he made that put him in that position. This story sets the tone for the rest of the volume, as the underlying theme is surely “choices made have consequences.”

We also meet a new “couple” – Koi and her friend Mayu, whose story somewhat echoes Sumi and Ushio’s, with a slightly different outcome. Their story segues into the story of the big Karate match, and Ushio joining the team as manager. Victory is not ours, but that’s all right, as not winning is a far more real experience for most than winning. Another indication to me that this series has shifted focus away from fantasy-comedy.

And finally, we are allowed some time alone with Sumi and Ushio…and we can see that having finally acknowledged their feelings for one another are the same, they are not jumping into bed, but are dating. Another sign that this series is taking itself rather more seriously than it was.

And then, reality…seriousness…*drama* strikes.

Sumi has decided to run for the student council. As class representative, a good student and excellent athlete, she’s a natural – her striking figure and height only help to sway the boys to feel that she is almost one of them. Until one of her opponents takes the low road and outs her as a lesbian. She and Ushio had not been hiding their relationship…it had never occurred to them to do so. Now Ushio, who remembers what it was like to be ostracized in middle school, says she’ll back off Sumi and the rumors will stop. After all, Ushio says, Sumika is the one “normal” member of the Joshibu. Sumika doesn’t know how to respond to this, and allows the moment to pass without comment.

In a misguided attempt to promote Sumi’s heterosexuality, Akemiya-kun is chosen as a beard for Sumi. He accepts happily because, as we remember from earlier chapters, he likes Sumika.

In the wake of the deaths of LGBTQ and other youth in part due to bullying, I can’t help but feel that this will not go well…not the author’s fault, per se, but I guess anything written about anyone being bullied or mocked for a sexual or gender identity right now will push that button.

For the first time, I find myself considering the next volume with trepidation. I realize that Sasamekikoto is still largely a comedy. But the possibility for comedy (in the classic sense of living happily ever after) is significantly lower than the possibility of tragedy (in both senses.)

Would I like Sumika to stand up in front of the student body and admit to liking Ushio and tell them to vote and be damned? Yes, of course I would, but I’m not delusional and I don’t *expect* it to happen. I want to trust the author to take that rein and tell the “right” story, the story about being whoever you are is okay…I really want to trust him.

What will happen?

I don’t know.

That’s why I keep reading.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Thanks be to Okazu Superhero Mari K. for her generous sponsorship of today’s review!